On Obama
Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Price. There's been a bit of a kerfluffle about this, especially regarding whether or not he "deserves" it or not (interestingly enough, much of it from the left wing; I think the country's current political climate has instilled people with an instinct that being too fond of Obama is a bad thing, but I digress).
To the people who are up in arms with the, "Oh, Obama hasn't done enough to deserve this!", I ask you this:
Can you name the Nobel Peace Prize winners for the last five years? Off the top of your head? How about the last three years?
This is a yearly award. Winning it in no way implies that the person has to have had made some permanent and indelible change to the concept of 'peace' as humankind knows it or anything like that. It's about taking steps and making strides, and you can't claim that Obama hasn't at least done that.
The other point of contention I see brought up is that the nominations took place in February, within weeks of Obama taking office. To these people, I posit that
a) Barack Obama did still exist before January 20, 2009, and
b) hey, after eight years of President Warmonger, I'd probably want to keep a close eye on his replacement, too.
(This says nothing of the fact that, for all we know, most world leaders are entered into the running for the award anyway, just because they're probably worth that consideration.)
So, yes, people--and especially Obama supporters out there: it's okay to be proud of your President for winning an award. No, seriously.
To the people who are up in arms with the, "Oh, Obama hasn't done enough to deserve this!", I ask you this:
Can you name the Nobel Peace Prize winners for the last five years? Off the top of your head? How about the last three years?
This is a yearly award. Winning it in no way implies that the person has to have had made some permanent and indelible change to the concept of 'peace' as humankind knows it or anything like that. It's about taking steps and making strides, and you can't claim that Obama hasn't at least done that.
The other point of contention I see brought up is that the nominations took place in February, within weeks of Obama taking office. To these people, I posit that
a) Barack Obama did still exist before January 20, 2009, and
b) hey, after eight years of President Warmonger, I'd probably want to keep a close eye on his replacement, too.
(This says nothing of the fact that, for all we know, most world leaders are entered into the running for the award anyway, just because they're probably worth that consideration.)
So, yes, people--and especially Obama supporters out there: it's okay to be proud of your President for winning an award. No, seriously.